Kent has seen an “unacceptable” 200%-plus increase in the number of temporary road closures in five years, new figures have revealed.

Highways in the county shut for works shot up from 4,833 in 2017/18 to nearly 10,736 in 2022/23.

The figures have been measured by the number of closure applications made to Kent County Council (KCC) during those years.

Much of the 225% increase has been driven by KCC’s Kent Highways’ need to maintain and repair damaged roads but also by utility companies installing infrastructure or fixing problems, such as water leaks.

Roads are usually closed because of the scale of the task or to ensure the safety of the people carrying out the work.

Environment and Transport Committee (ETC) chairman Cllr Sean Holden said: “It is unacceptable that we have seen the massive growth in road closures that are a nuisance to people all over Kent.

“I don’t think that anyone is going to argue with that. Everyone seems to say the same thing – that journey times have increased as has the inconvenience it causes.”

The sharp rise in temporary closures reflects an increasing number of organisations seeking to access Kent's 5,500 miles of highways to carry out critical work, according to a KCC report.

Officers warn there is limited scope to reduce the number of applications because “KCC has no ability to refuse or reject the application and as such the opportunity to reduce permits remains limited especially during programmes of significant infrastructure modernisation which are stipulated by national regulators”.

But the ETC is determined answers can be found to actively reduce the current application numbers to below 5,000.

Cllr Holden added: "What the committee has done is ask for a report by highways officers on how they will reduce these high numbers."

Members argue, and officers agree, that roads should be reopened when work is not being carried out, where possible.

Weekend and late evening should be be explored, as long as it does not disturb nearby residents, according to an ETC report.

Officers concede it is possible for different organisations to carry out work at the same time.

The issue is due to be discussed at this week’s ETC meeting taking place today (Wednesday July 5).

In 2022/23, Kent County Council had 1,073 planned road closures and 2,858 emergency road closures.

Of the water companies, South East Water had 352 planned and 1391 emergency with Southern Water 450 and 530 respectively. Thames Water had 104 planned and 151 emergency.

Southern Gas Networks had 848 planned and 150 labelled as emergency while BT Openreach had 1,112 and 546 respectively.

Elsewhere, UK Power Networks had 333 planned) and 287 emergency while others accounted for 426 planned and 125 emergency.